The source of the trouble
You know what I’m talking about — the girls dressed in head-to-toe pinstripes complete with modest strings of pearls, the guys in matching business regalia…
In the first week of school, you already see not only seniors but juniors and even sophomores partaking in the festivities of On Campus Recruiting. These poor pre-professionals are seeking new internships mere weeks after they finish their last ones.
I see them as nothing short of over-pressured, overworked drones. Granted, at least 80% of these folks are from Wharton, doomed from the beginning to sign their souls away for nothing more than a yearly bonus which they won’t have time to spend.
But what about you, College students? What are you doing attending recruiting sessions a whole semester before summer OCR actually starts?
There is something to be said about the bone-and-mental-capacity-crushing level of pre-professionalism here at Penn.
I hope that you, a typical Penn student, have actually considered not doing an internship or not working or not making coffee for the office over the summer. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t intern at Goldman — I promise.
I recently met a student who is graduating in December. He had his first internship just this year. He told me that he didn’t regret taking the previous summers off to enjoy himself and be with friends.
For a second, I forgot that such an idea was even possible. Was something wrong with him?
I stepped back to gain perspective. Here at Penn, we miss out on so much. We need to face our brainwashing and really think about ourselves: we are not just defined by our careers or internships. Just because we care about our future jobs does not mean that we should become them.
So students, take a load off. You have the rest of your lives ahead of you to devote yourselves mindlessly to an investment bank. In the meantime, don’t forget about your friends, your parents, and most importantly, all those TV shows that rerun during the summer.
After all, while Bank of America will still be here in a few years, Jack Bauer might just be gone.
Tags: OCR
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September 16th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Yuliya,
Your opinion of on campus recruiting, most likely through no fault of your own, nevertheless belies a tragic but definite ignorance of the people who take part in it, and you cruelly belittle what is a stressful period in many young students lives.
You also make absolutly no effort to try to understand why these hundreds (if not thousands) of kids undertake this very trying exercise, especially in a climate as difficult as this one. You also betray the high standard of (sometimes comic) journalism that The Spin adheres to.
I went through OCR. It was harrowng and testing, and I came out stronger. And I did not ‘become’ my job, either.
At Penn, you do not need, at all, to miss out on life because you devote a month or two to OCR. I am in finance, I went to the College and I had a very full and varied life at Penn (and here in New York), and I take great issue with being painted with the broad stroke of ‘drone’, when there is much more to me, and much more to most of the people who go through OCR.
Next time you write about OCR and the drones from Wharton, you might want to talk to one of them and perhaps see why they want to do it, instead of coming out with what are in fact very harmful opinions.
Of course, you have every right to have your opinions, but I would suggest you at least try and give reasons. You are a Penn student- please act like you deserve that title and use some reason, and good humour, when you write.
Sincerely,
Eric
September 16th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
But will Bank of America be here in a few years? Will it? Ahh!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:27 am
[...] not about to go on an OCR diatribe, because we should be nothing but thankful for the vast opportunities our school is so helpful in [...]